


Seeds of Discord Part 40

by kbj1123



Series: Wonder Woman & Captain America [41]
Category: Captain America - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, Wonder Woman - All Media Types
Genre: Action & Romance, Action/Adventure, Crossover Pairings, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, F/M, One True Pairing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-12
Updated: 2015-05-12
Packaged: 2018-03-30 04:06:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,702
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3922231
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kbj1123/pseuds/kbj1123
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Someone or something is causing violent riots to erupt all over the U.S., and whatever it is, it wreaks havoc with both Wonder Woman's health and Bruce Banner's ability to keep his rage in check.</p>
<p>Diana and the rest of the team face off with a god at Concordance HQ...and end up elsewhere.  Diana finally breaks Bruce's heart.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Seeds of Discord Part 40

The first thing Diana notices is that this floor of the building is freezing coldd. She shivers. In an instant, Bruce drapes his jacket over her bare shoulders. She slips it back off, letting it fall to the floor behind her. “Now is not the time,” she says under her breath, irritated. The Concordance Group had hidden its headquarters in plain sight in an unremarkable skyscraper in Downtown Manhattan. The team has entered the Earthbound center of the Dionysian cult about to explode into the world. The top floor is not in the city’s records. It is legally invisible. That isn’t the only thing wrong, though. It is early afternoon in the busiest city in the world. The offices should be full and busy. In the reception area though, all Diana can hear is the hum of the air conditioner. The reception desk, situated in front of a glass wall overlooking the East River, is empty. 

Natasha and Clint seem to agree. “Okay, where is everybody,” Natasha asks, although it comes out as a statement. The four of them face outward from the desk, forming a semicircle. Diana feels the back of her neck go icy. 

“I’ve been waiting for you, Princess.” The voice is the personification of disquiet, and it comes from behind her as if through the glass wall. The heroes spin around to face a man with a dark, neatly trimmed beard. He is wearing thin-wired glasses and a very well-tailored suit. 

“Moros,” Diana says, more by way of explanation to her colleagues than an introduction. “Avengers, meet the God of Inevitable Doom.” 

“You must be the life of every party,” Bruce says to him, unsmiling. From the corner of her eye, Diana sees him clench and unclench his fists. She notices he’s slowed his breath. He’s trying to maintain control, she thinks, relieved.

Moros laughs. “I’m so glad you’re here, too,” he tells Bruce. Mr. Backus will be pleased to meet you in person. Nyx has told him so much about you.” He looks in turn at Natasha, Clint, and Diana. “The rest of you are just good for morale,” he says.

Diana shifts a little, stepping one foot forward, bending her knees slightly. Her abdominal muscles tighten and her hands ball into fists. “Take me, let everyone else go,” she demands. “This is between the gods.”

Moros doesn’t answer. Half-dozen men in security uniforms rush into the room. Moros leaps past the desk, directly toward Diana. He knocks her to the ground, and she curls her limbs into her torso, repelling him. He’s fast. She doesn’t have time to get to her feet before he leaps toward her again, but she rolls aside and he misses her. He rolls toward her and sweeps a leg between hers, causing her to lose her equilibrium even on the ground. He pins her right arm to the ground and straddles her for the final blow. She shoves the heel of her left palm into his sternum, winding him. She uses the break to disentangle herself and leap to her feet. 

In the background, she hears her friends making quick work of the mercenaries. The fight could have been worse. She grabs for her lasso. Just as she begins to unfasten it from her belt though, gunshots ring out from the reception entrance. 

“EVERYBODY FREEZE! POLICE,” a man yells! Without waiting, three officers storm into the room. The combination of shouts and gunshots fired in close quarters is disorienting. Once again, Diana feels Moros’ weight as she falls backward, hitting the back of her head on the edge of the reception desk as she goes down. She lands with a thud. For a moment, her vision doubles and she isn’t sure which Moros to fight. He uses her confusion as an opportunity, pinning both her wrists past her head. She hears another shot. Natasha yells out in pain. It’s enough to snap her vision into focus again. She sweeps her legs around Moros and uses all of her strength to flip him onto his belly. Straddling his back, she grabs her lasso. She uses the long end to bind his hands behind him. Then she flips him over and places the loop around his neck.

“So, what’s inevitable now,” she tells Moros, “is that you show me where to find Nyx and Eris.” She’d thought they were so close. She really had thought she’d confront Nyx, and perhaps Mr. Backus Himself today. In the background, things have gone quiet. She hears Clint tending to Natasha’s wound. Several men, police officers and mercenaries, moan. “I’m through with this ridiculous war for dominion over mortals,” she informs Moros. “And on top of that, I want my life with my husband back. This ends now. Take me to Dionysus.” She tightens the loop around his neck.

Tug the rope a little tighter, and everything changes, Diana thinks. She slides her hand closer to where her lasso loops around Moros’ neck, just below his jugular. This could be a message for Nyx, Eris, and maybe Dionysus Himself. She could permanently maim a lesser god to gain an audience with an Olympian. She could force a confrontation that would end this nightmare on Earth. She could bring all of them to justice. The cost would be her soul. She is on the cusp of finished with the children of Nyx. She feels the rage and frustration of having been through a war that’s gone for far too long. She hasn't felt this angry since that moment in the War when she’d lost control. Remembering this, she sends up a brief prayer to Athena: Grant me the wisdom. She narrows her eyes and inhales sharply.

Moros grins in spite of the fact that his face is turning the same shade of pale blue as his expensive-looking necktie. “Prove our point for us, Princess. You’re more like us than you think.” 

Instead, she brings back her fist and slams it into his nose. He yelps with surprise, then laughs while she unwinds the lasso from his neck. Blood trickles down his cheek and under his white collar, ruining the clean lines of his suit. 

She hears Bruce groan somewhere behind her. She feels relief that he hasn’t changed. Everything is about to change though, she thinks again. “We are going to end this,” she growls at the god of dread. 

“Oh, indeed!” he agrees, grinning widely. 

Something hard makes contact with the back of her head. The room shudders around her. 

When she opens her eyes again, she is on her back, looking at a cloudless gray sky. She props herself up on her forearms. Natasha is a few feet away, just out of the tide’s reach. Clint is a yard or so further down the shore. Both press themselves up from the ground as they regain consciousness. I know this place.

Before she can register anything else, she feels a hand on her shoulder. She stiffens, ready to fight again, and then softens when she hears Bruce ask, “Are you okay? Where are we?”

She reaches behind and gives his hand a squeeze. When she stands up, she manages a smile. “We’re in the space between the Ancient World and Olympus,” she tells him. “This is where everything is going to change. It’s almost over,” she says. It’s the only truthful thing she can think to say with as little foreboding as possible. 

Instead of answering, Bruce walks off toward the colorless sea. He sits at the water’s edge, letting the tide creep under and between his feet. Diana joins him and sits down. “If we’re fighting your gods, this can end very badly,” he starts.

Diana looks at him and nods.

“You might not…I mean, Steve…” he trails off, seemingly unable to formulate the thought completely.

Diana looks at her friend and sighs. His face is taut, and small lines creep from the outer corners of his eyes. He swallows hard a couple of times but doesn’t try to finish his sentence. She knows what he’s trying to say, though. She turns to face him. 

“Bruce, look at me.”

He shifts around and faces her. The tips of their toes touch. She reaches forward and places her palm on his cheek. With her thumb, she wipes away a tear that’s begun to make its way down his face. 

“It was never a contest between you and him,” she says as gently as she can. She didn’t want this conversation. If Moros had any power in her life, ever, it manifested in her dread of this unavoidable moment. She was about to say things that would break the heart of one of her best friends. “It was always Steve. I love Steve. I’ve loved him for two lifetimes and we will be together even after we are both dead. Hades Himself has granted us this.”

She watches his face as he processes the information. He looks broken, as if some part of him has cracked open. She wishes she could fix it. She could make him feel better for a little while. She could will him to feel at ease, but she knows nothing will mend him but, perhaps, time. Instead of ameliorating her friend’s pain, she continues.

“If I hadn’t met Steve again in this lifetime, I still don’t think I would have loved you the same way you love me. You are my dear friend; you are an anchor to me. You deserve to be with someone who loves you deeply in ways that I do not.”

He is shaking now, and tears flow. Diana takes her hand from his face and holds his hand tightly. Looking past him, she sees Natasha and Clint make their way toward them. “It’s time,” she whispers. She helps him to his feet. 

When their companions arrive, Clint points out three sets of men’s footprints. They head toward the ruins of two buildings. “The twin temples of Artemis and Apollo,” Diana tells them. “Steve, Tony and Thor are almost there.” She drops Bruce’s hand and walks ahead of the group. Striding out in the direction of the prints, she says, “This is where it ends. Everything changes now.”


End file.
